Spending time in Newcastle or just walking the line of Hadrian’s Wall then here’s a short film on the fort of Pons Aelius or Aelii now buried under the... | By Rome's Northern frontier | Welcome you. Join me today in the historic city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England. We start our tour overlooking the Great Tyne Bridge. The Swing Bridge stands on the site of the 13th century medieval bridge with its shops and houses and look very similar to London Bridge. Timbers recovered from the river and carbon 14 that given a date to the early Roman period. So this is possibly where the Roman Bridge stood over the river. It appears the fur plan for Hadrian's Wall finished the wall at this point here from the bridge and then running up the steep embankment. Today we have to walk up these steep stairs to reach the 13th century castle walls of the medieval city. During its construction, Hadrian's wall was extended alongside of the River Tyne as far as what is now walls end and a fort there was built known to the Romans as Segadonum. Now that we finally approach the medieval walls and the site of Newcastle Castle which gives the town its name. Sadly, this part of Newcastle today is sadly neglected with vandalism and litter but hopefully things will change as funding becomes available. At this point, we get our first view of the keep. Built in 1175, it replaced an earlier Earth and Timber Motten Bailey. The black gate was built slightly later in twelve forty-seven and formed the entrance to the castle. It was at this time that the notorious William Herron created the heron pit as it became known, a notorious airless dungeon with light to throw in debtors or people who opposed his authority. He finally died in 1258 much to everyone's relief. The black gate has been much daltered down the years but the original guard towers at the bottom still retained their original features from the time of building in the thirteenth century. Travelling back in time we found the remains of the tower of an Anglo Saxon Chapel beneath the railway viaduct. Over 600 burials are recorded going along with this particular church when the Castle built it may have become the Garrison Chapel. Post Roman name for this place may have been Monk Chester according to Simeon of Durham in his Chronicles. So now we move back in time again and highlighted in the floor of the so these cobblestones marking out the line of one of the Roman Granaries. These buildings are normally two stories and supported a not a lot of weight hence the butcherist walls which make the granaries easy to pick out on any Roman site. Only fragments and headquarters building, granary, and commanding officers house been excavated due to the nature of the site. The topography of the site may have meant that the fort wasn't the regular plane card shape that we come to expect from forts of this period. Sections of the southern ditch of the fort have been discovered underneath the high-level viaduct in the background. A replica of a Rowan altar found in the River Tyne in the Victorian period stands outside the castle. These two altars are now in the great North Hancock museum and they've been illuminated by the museum to give an indication of what they look like when new. They were dedicated by the sixth legion who'd probably just arrived from the Rhinelands to take up a position building Hadrian's Wall in AD one two two. The fort was a very late addition to Adrian's Wall and it's believed to date from the late second or early third century. Possibly to replace a now lost force on the south side of the river defending the bridge. Thanks for watching and don't forget to like and subscribe to help me create more content on our channel.
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